I’m completely new to the forum and if I’m honest, pretty clueless about cars. I’ve been driving for 9-10 years. 29-year-old female. Started out with a Citroen Saxo under 1 litre (loved it for a first car) and then had my Vauxhall Corsa SXI for 7 years but it’s on its death bed now so I need a new car.

I’ve always loved the look of the Honda Civic Type R. That’s my main reason for wanting to buy – I’m after a car I love the look of!

Found one at a garage near me; black (and red bits), 2.0-litre, 2009, 50,000 miles, excellent condition, full MOT & service history, reputable garage, 3 previous owners. They will also give me a free 12-month warranty. They’re after £7,995. Got an online valuation of £6,500 when I put the deals on but not sure if these just come up lower? It was on WhatCar.

– Does this specific deal look good? If not, how much should I be negotiating? – In layman’s terms, any pitfalls of this car? – People are saying the petrol could cripple me? – Worried about the tyres. Do they wear more than other vehicles (horror stories I’ve read online)?

– My typical driving week is 2 days a week commute to work (I work from home the other 3) and on these two days it’s mainly motorway and a total of 70 miles a day, round trip. Other than that I drive to my local supermarket, friends / family in my area but I don’t use massive amounts of mileage. Now and then I drive on business trips but not regularly. I’m not a racer style driver – craziest I’ll get it 80mph on motorway. However the motorway stretch I use for my commutes is 50mph restricted anyway for the next considerable years (m6). I’d say I do about 160-170 miles a week. Anyone thinking this isn’t the car for me? I do love it so it’s not like I’m undecided, I just want to ensure there’s nothing I’m missing.

Hi Joanne. The main things to look for in a Civic Type R are condition, service history, damage and any obvious modifications. Many have been thrashed by boy racers as they are fast, fun cars that very much attract that sort of crowd.

Online valuations are a guide but are only ever estimates – WhatCar?, Parkers and the like don’t sell or buy cars, so it’s all very well suggesting that a car should be priced at £X, but it eventually comes down to supply and demand.

Look around online to see what similar cars are being advertised for. If this one is substantially more or less than others in the marketplace, ask why?

Issues like tyre wear tend to be related to how the car has been driven – as above, if it’s been driven by a boy racer pretending he’s Jenson Button then there will be tyre wear and probably other problems or damage as well!

If you’re not particularly familiar with the model, I would strongly suggest looking at a few different cars before committing to one. It’s hard to judge if this one is a good or bad example if you don’t have anything to compare it to.